CLEVELAND — Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani delivered a full-throated defense of Donald Trump’s character in a fiery speech on the opening night of the Republican National Convention Monday, saying he’s sick and tired of the “defamation” of Mr. Trump by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the media.
He said Donald Trump is “a man with a big heart.”
“Every time New York suffered a tragedy, Donald Trump was there to help,” Mr. Giuliani said.
“He’s not going to like my telling you this, but he did it anonymously,” Mr. Giuliani said. “When police officers were shot, when fire fighters were hurt, when people were in trouble, he came forward and he helped and he asked not to be mentioned.”
“Well, I’m going to break my promise to him: I am going to mention it,” he said. “This is a man with a big heart who loves people — all people, from the top to the bottom, from the middle to the side.”
“I am telling you this because I am sick and tired of the defamation of Donald Trump by the media and by the Clinton campaign — I am sick and tired of it!” he said. “This is a good man!”
Mr. Giuliani also launched a series of attacks against Mrs. Clinton, notably on her handling of the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
“Hillary Clinton’s answer to Congress about the death of these four brave Americans because of her gross failures as secretary of state was quote, what difference at this point does it make?’” Mr. Giuliani said.
“What difference does it make?” he repeated, incredulously.
“Anyone who can say that it makes no difference how or why people serving America are killed should not be entrusted with the awesome responsibility to protect them and us and should not be allowed to be our commander-in chief,” he said.
“Who would trust Hillary Clinton to protect them? I wouldn’t. Would you?” he said.
Mr. Giuliani, speaking on a night with the theme of “Make America Safe Again,” also praised law enforcement, while saying unjustified police shootings should be punished.
“We pray for our police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge and their families, and we say thank you to the Cleveland Police Department for protecting us - thank you,” he said.
“We know the risk you’re taking and we say thank you to every police officer and law enforcement agent who’s out tonight protecting us — black, white, Latino, of every race, every color, every creed, every sexual orientation,” he said.
“When they come to save your life, they don’t ask if you’re black or white — they just come to save you!” Mr. Giuliani said.
“We also reach out — we reach out our arms with understanding and compassion to those who have lost loved ones because of police shootings — some justified, some unjustified,” he said. “Those that are unjustified must be punished. Those that are justified, we must apologize to.”
Mr. Giuliani also seemed to allude to the speech given by President Obama, then a U.S. Senate candidate, at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The speech, in which Mr. Obama declared there is “not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America - there’s the United States of America,” helped launch him onto the national political stage.
“What happened to ’there’s no black America, there’s no white America — there is just America?’ What happened to it? Where did it go?” Mr. Giuliani asked.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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